The Story Of The Four Little Piggies

[PiggyOinkOink]

Here are my 4 piggies. The short-haired (Benji) was a Xmas present from a friend and the 3 long-haired (Snoopy, Rebecca & 'Little Mrs' (I actually forgot her name and haven't decided on a new one lol) are all brothers and sisters. There were 5 siblings initially but my friend has the other two - one totally ginger (Ginger) and one totally black (Kali). I got stuck with the mongrels lol.

Benji is unrelated and about 6 weeks older than the rest. He is the most curious, talkative, fearless and friendly. He doesn't fight anyone but annoys them all by regular shows of domination. He is the King of the Piggies.

The 1st two are as a baby and the 3rd as he is now.


Rebecca is very noisy like a squeeky toy, doesn't like being picked up and will run so fast like a roadrunner if you try and is also a right bitch! (My friend chose her name because he remembers a film where a woman was a bitch and called Rebecca lol).
She would bite her sister, Little Mrs, on the nose where she had a scab making her bleed! I think this was because Benji and Rebecca are a couple but he is always wanting to 'dominate' Little Mrs so Rebecca is totally jealous and now hates Little Mrs lol I had to separate the two sisters very soon after I got them as Rebecca just bullies and attacks her.



Snoopy is very sweet and is the most confident out of his siblings. He looks after his little sister and makes sure he takes her some food as she is very timid and likes to just hide in her box all the time.



'Little Mrs' is extremely shy and nervous. She likes to hide in her cave and come out only when she is ready to eat food. If Snoopy has some food in his mouth, she will snatch it from him and drag it back inside her cave, it's very funny to watch! I think she was the runt of the litter as she was the smallest of the siblings, with Rebecca and her sister, Kali (who my friend has), being the biggest. I think they both bullied the others out of the way and grabbed all the food. Kali is similar to Rebecca in personality but the other brother, Ginger, is very friendly and sweet, even more than Snoopy.



I used to be able to put them all in a run together but I have to keep Benji & Rebecca separate from Snoopy & Little Mrs now because as well as the tension between the sisters, Snoopy has started to actively fight Benji too (I imagine because Benji is always after his sister lol).

I never realised they would have such distinct personalities along with such interpersonal dramas!

BTW can anyone please tell me what breed they all are? I'm guessing Benji is a Rex mix and the rest Peruvian (mix)? The father of the siblings was long haired and grey and the mother long haired and tricoloured ginger/white/brown (I think!).

 

[piggyfan]

Wow they are all stunning. The reason the boys fight is only one boar can live with sows. Are the boars neutered?

 

[Stewybus]

Welcome to the forum. You have 4 lovely piggies.

 

[LisaAli]

to the forum...

Gorgeous piggies you have .... want to see more...

 

[madguinealady]

love the long haired ones. I would say peruvian mix for them, the grey and white one looks like mine.

 

[sport_billy]

Gorgeous piggies thanks for sharing and welcome

 

[VickiA]

Hello, To the forum. What beautiful looking piggies.

 

[PiggyOinkOink]

Thanks guys! Unfortunately they are not neutered and Rebecca is pregnant by Benji already. Originally, I wanted to get a companion for Benji so I saw 5 piggies (the brothers and sisters) on offer on Gumtree for only £12 each! It's a bit of a story but I was due to give an assignment on a Sunday day which I had not started and it was 8 in the evening Saturday already. The guy that had them had just put the ad up and was about 1hr away but the tube was shut for repair works the whole wknd so it would have taken 2hrs to get there. After much deliberating (and my friend persuading me that they would be gone) we got a cab there and the guy said he would drop up at a station on the way back. He was a very nice guy and had his house full of different types of animals and said he had just got 2 piggies from the pet shop and the sow had given birth without them expecting(!). I was only going to get Little Mrs as she was the one I liked the most from the pics but my friend persuaded me to get them all as he wanted 2 (and the guy gave them all for £45) plus they were all too gorgeous so I did lol

I had no way to separate them for about a week until I got some correx and build another base. Now, Rebecca and Kali (the all black one my friend has) are about 4 weeks pregnant. Tbh, I did not want to have any babies to deal with and just wanted 2 males but it's happened how it did. Little Mrs doesn't appear to be pregnant and Snoopy is really not at all dominant so perhaps that is the case. Also, I did try my best to keep randy Benji away from her when they were together! They are all very attached to each other now, especially Beni & Rebecca, and if I take Rebecca out of the cage to put some Clotrimazole on (as they all had a mild fungal infection on their ears) Benji calls for her and sticks his head out to look and call for her. I guess I can get Benji & Snoopy neutered as I don't want to deal with babies all the time or put the girls health at risk. Does anyone know if the RSPCA does neutering and how much it costs?

I am going to separate Rebecca this week as she is about 4 weeks pregnant though she is the most very assertive one and so fast to run so Benji does not constantly bother her like before, but it's stressful I'm sure anyways.

 

[Briony_S]

Please have a look at the pregnancy threads for advice. What you have done is not ideal but what is done is done so they say! There is also a chance they were pregnant before you got them as girls can get pregnant at 4 weeks and boys can father at 3 weeks.

You need to take out any boys immediately as you cannot be sure when they got pregnant and mommies can get pregnant again from minute they give birth. In addition boys get excited when mums are on heat so could get excited and trample or squash babies.

Also back to back pregnancies are very hard on mums and can cause death in both mum and babies.

You need to sex the babies at 2 weeks ideally as any boys need removing at 3 weeks or 250gms.

Any boys to remain in herd need to be neutered and have to wait until 6 weeks post op before they are reintroduced. If you have 2 boys cheaper option maybe to just house them as a two separate from the girls?

 

[PiggyOinkOink]

Thanks for the advice, I have read a lot of the same things as what you have said online too.

It is possible that at least one of them, Kali (the one my friend has), was impregnated before we got them because she is the fattest/most preggers of them all. The couple we got them from said they were about 6 weeks old, though my friend thinks they were younger as they are very small compared with Benji (who is only about 6 weeks older than them - if that is going by what the pet shop guy told us). It is also possible that that happened to Rebecca too but I appear to have noticed that unless the sow likes the boar then she won't let him mate with her. At least this is happening with Kali as he says that he hears some squeeks sometimes and notices that Kali bites Ginger and forces him to sleep outside the shelter at night lol

I cannot house the 2 boys together as the little one fights the older! I would like to keep them all and it may be a cheaper option as you say to get the boys neutered then place them together and see how they act. When I asked the guy at the pet shop, he said that neutering was not very good on the males and possibly shortened their life span or something. When I went to the pet shop the other day, my friend picked one gorgeous female up and noticed she was pregnant. Benji was housed with two older females when I got him and the other cage held a guinea pig and rabbit..the guy told us he had never noticed a problem in his life housing pigs and rabbits, although I have read advice to the contrary in many places online.

 

[Briony_S]

Hi again. I think we have got our wires crossed. I was suggesting housing boys together without neutering. Neutering has no effect on their personalities and will not help. If they dont get on they never will. The only think neutering is good for is stopping babies!

If they dont get on maybe wait until you get your babies as if you get any boys you can see if either of them will take to a bay boy. Ideally if you have two baby boys you could have one with each older boy then maybe rehome a pair or keep them all?

With regards to how far along each one is you really cant always tell my comparing. A sow with one bsby will be a very different size to one with 6

 

[Briony_S]

@Jerrybelly can this thread be moved to pregnancy section please? @Wiebke just adding you on as your very knowledgeable x

 

[klee]

Please separate the boars from the females.
I don't think neutering has a known effect on shortening lifespan, however sows that are withan unneutered boar and allowed to get pregnant back-back this may be the case, as It takes a lot out of them.
As for kali and ginger, sows come into season roughly every 14-17 days and at this point for a few hours will allow the boar to mate ( if they are bonded). As far as I know, if a sow is pregnant they don't have seasons so the sow is not going to be interested. Sows also come into season within a few hours of birth so can bcome pregnant again.

 

[PiggyOinkOink]

I separate Benji and Rebecca at night and when I am not in the house as I don't want her to have her kids when I'm not there then get up the duff again lol Her sister Kali is due any day as my friend showed me today so I imagine Rebecca is also.

I got some pix of the other 2 siblings, Ginger and Kali..Ginger especially is very cute and he has gone from an orangey golden colour to a blond and Kali seems to be dark grey instead of pure black.

Ginger just after I got him ~6wks old


This week about 12wks


Kali the other day ~12wks